


Proud

by oceaneyesinla



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Pride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 07:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5488559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceaneyesinla/pseuds/oceaneyesinla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pavel never had anyone to be proud of him. This is written in the aftermath of ST:ID.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Proud

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is my first ever post. I finished this ages ago and it's the first thing I actually managed to finish. So here it is.

Pavel Chekov had never known what it was like to have someone be proud of him. As a child, his parents tried to support him in any way they could, but in their own way, they shunned him as much as his peers. They never understood quite how his brain processed things, and forgot that even from a young age, he did understand what they said about him. How he was unusual, unique, different.

His teachers, too, could not challenge him enough without alienating him from everyone his age. He was years ahead of them and, indeed, several of his teachers. He was bullied constantly but learned to ignore them. When he did that, they turned to more physical means to break him down. He didn’t let it destroy his passion to learn. If anything, it inspired him to try harder; to prove to them that their taunts couldn’t stop him.

At the Academy, he had found friends, even though they were older than him. His roommate, Hikaru Sulu had been kind and taken Pavel under his wing, helping him to settle into his new life in San Francisco. It hadn’t been easy; there was still bullying and still cruel jabs at his small stature and his genius level IQ but now there was someone to stick up for him and to take him to the clinic when they went a little too far.

He hadn’t even graduated when the distress signal came from Vulcan. With all other ships in another galaxy, the senior cadets were the only line of defence and so were sent to fight a battle they could never have been prepared for. Pavel was assigned to the Enterprise and due to one James T. Kirk, theirs was the only ship in the fleet to survive the Narada. However, their survival didn’t make anyone as happy as it should because they all had lost friends that had been laughing and talking with them only days before.

On the journey back to Earth, the Enterprise limping along on just its impulse engines, Pavel began to have nightmares. Even his own head had begun to taunt him; to tell him what he could have done that would mean Spock didn’t have to deal with the loss of his mother as well as his planet. He was slowly driving himself into the ground, second guessing every decision he made. Years of emotional neglect meant that he was harder on himself than most and he did nothing to drag himself away from it. It was familiar, however self-destructive it was.  
He was in his quarters, getting ready for another shift on the bridge when someone knocked on the door. As in, actually knocked. He went over and unlocked it, walking away again and not bothering to look who it was. A small smile made its way onto his face at the soft, almost motherly voice.

“Hey Pasha. How are you?”

He nodded, “I am okay, sestra.”

A hand on his shoulder made him turn around, hazel meeting liquid silver. As usual, he felt like she could see straight through his lies and the front that he put up for others. Probably because she could. They had become close in the Academy and just before they had left Earth, she had told him that he could call her sister, if he wanted to. He very much wanted to. She was a few years older than him but she had the same brilliant mind that he did. In fact, there were several people on the Enterprise that were equal to him in intelligence. He was finally beginning to feel like he had somewhere to belong, but he still had lingering feelings of self-doubt. There was still no-one apart from him who took pride in his hard work and dedication to his job at such a young age.

“I know you’re hurting, and I know you’re beating yourself up. I just want you to know that I’m proud of you. You were so brave and you saved lives and you’re only 17. You did better than most of the admirals could do. Дорогая, I’m proud to call you my baby brother. Well done, Pasha.”

She ran a hand through his curly blonde hair and stood on tip toe to press a kiss to his forehead. She told him she would see him on the bridge then left the boy alone again but this time he was smiling. For the first time in 17 years, someone was proud of him. He went to the bridge, the bright smile still plastered on his face and she winked at him as he walked in from her spot next to the Captain’s chair.  
Pavel Chekov finally knew what it was like to have someone be proud of him. It was one of the best feelings in the world.


End file.
